Examinee (Part VII)
The last examinations of my life so far were in 2004. They were both rather odd examinations.
The first was on advanced research methods and fieldwork. I found myself returning to the same café every week at the same times and sitting in the same places. I sat there and observed people and what they did until I had enough data to come up with a sort of anthropological hypothesis about café culture. Then I sat around some more until I was reasonably sure I was right. After a few months, I wrote up my research and submitted it.
The second was about principalship and school management. I attended this module with a bunch of soon-to-be and hoping-to-be principals, some staff officers, and some very interesting other people. For the final submission, we were given huge amounts of data about some fictitious school and asked to come up with a plan for solving all the problems in the school within the first few months of (hypothetically) taking office as principal.
This one was a bit difficult; towards the end of the course, I was bound for New York and I would have to submit my answers by email while settling in at Columbia. It was an odd time but a good time. I decided to ignore all the theory in terms of specifics and go for the odd solution of retraining a few personnel in different and unexpected areas, and then shuffling a few of the others around.
Months passed before I got my grades. I completely forgot about the whole thing and focussed on my research into blood substitutes. It wasn't until I got back that my supervisor contacted me with mixed news. After dealing with some difficulties of the kind that ensue when you're away and cannot protect yourself, I received a pleasant surprise. Straight As, and it was time to give up the taking of examinations for the rest of my life, and focus on my thesis-writing.
The first was on advanced research methods and fieldwork. I found myself returning to the same café every week at the same times and sitting in the same places. I sat there and observed people and what they did until I had enough data to come up with a sort of anthropological hypothesis about café culture. Then I sat around some more until I was reasonably sure I was right. After a few months, I wrote up my research and submitted it.
The second was about principalship and school management. I attended this module with a bunch of soon-to-be and hoping-to-be principals, some staff officers, and some very interesting other people. For the final submission, we were given huge amounts of data about some fictitious school and asked to come up with a plan for solving all the problems in the school within the first few months of (hypothetically) taking office as principal.
This one was a bit difficult; towards the end of the course, I was bound for New York and I would have to submit my answers by email while settling in at Columbia. It was an odd time but a good time. I decided to ignore all the theory in terms of specifics and go for the odd solution of retraining a few personnel in different and unexpected areas, and then shuffling a few of the others around.
Months passed before I got my grades. I completely forgot about the whole thing and focussed on my research into blood substitutes. It wasn't until I got back that my supervisor contacted me with mixed news. After dealing with some difficulties of the kind that ensue when you're away and cannot protect yourself, I received a pleasant surprise. Straight As, and it was time to give up the taking of examinations for the rest of my life, and focus on my thesis-writing.
Labels: Examinations, University Life
etched with acid at 4:18:00 pm
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